After a week when expectations were raised of new criminal investigations into Prince Andrew – as his occupation was listed as sub-postmaster by mistake! – Real Mallorca kick off the second half of the season in 14th place on 18 points, 17 goals in favour, 23 against, compared to last season when it was 25 points, 15 goals for and 18 against. We’re also into the last 16 of the Copa del Rey where we’ll play away against Tenerife on Tuesday (16th) at 10pm.
Over the past three games there’s been a marked improvement in our play, which has invited optimism. The recovery from injury of defenders Raillo and Maffeo has been one of the keys in regaining our best defensive system. However, the greatest evolution has been in midfield where Morlanes, Antonio Sanchez and Samu Costa have all hit a rich vein of form giving us much more mobility in the middle of the pitch. Add to that the versatility of evergreen Dani Rodriguez and things are definitely looking better. Up front without the injured Vedat Muriqi leading the line, we’ve been struggling but the good news is he’s now back in light training. The player has also had some other good news this week when the Spanish state decided to give full validity to the Kosovo passport, accepting its integration into the same category as any other in the Schengen area. That means, at last, that Muriqi’s family and friends can visit these island shores without restrictions.
It's party time
Mallorca face Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo tomorrow (Saturday 13th) at 4:15pm in the Son Moix. The game is the cherry on the top as it’s a very special day in the 107 year history of RCD Mallorca. After a year and eight months of building work, the club are preparing the mother of all parties to launch the new, refurbished Son Moix stadium. From 11am the area surrounding the stadium will be filled with activities ranging from bouncy castles, sack races, archery and scooter circuits. There’s also plenty of food on offer, plus a parachutist will land on the pitch, hopefully before the game starts!
The big news is the opening of the new South end stand called L’Infern1916 (where the Ultras will now be housed), seating 2,760 fans, which will also be used as a new entertainment area with a stage on top for rock concerts during the summer months. Fans who have chosen to sit in the South end will be given a welcome pack containing a T-shirt, a scarf and a cap. I sit in the main stand and we were promised free scarves when we had new seating installed last summer. There’s been no sign of these scarves even as winter’s icy fingers take hold of us old codgers!
After 54 years, on June 13, 1999, Real Mallorca said “Adios” to their long-time home, Luis Sitjar stadium in the Es Forti barrio of Palma. Also leaving was their charismatic Argentinian coach Hector Cuper, who had taken the club into the top three of La Liga and into Europe. Cuper was leaving to have more success at Valencia. Ironically the opponents on that day were Celta Vigo and we won 2-0.
The Luis Sitjar, close to Palma city centre, was an iconic old ground that was in a serious state of disrepair so we had to move to the Son Moix (“The Cat”) stadium on the other side of the Via Cintura. The stadium was built 25 years ago on the occasion of the World Student Games. We reached agreement with the Palma City Council and its co-owners to play our matches there. Unfortunately Son Moix was a soul-less ground with an athletics track that was hated. Over the years there have been a few hair-brain schemes to build a science fiction-like football city in Palma, backed by some non-existent investors, in what were totally unimaginable proposals. Not one of these so-called ideas ever got to the drawing board stage. The only ones to have fulfilled the task were our current American owners, led by president Andy Kohlberg, and a La Liga subsidy. Capacity has risen to 26,000 and the radical change from the one that was inaugurated 25 years ago is staggering.
The club’s first official game in the Son Moix turned out to be a disaster. On August 25, we faced Norwegian “minnows” Molde in a Champions League play off. The first leg played halfway up a Fjord finished 0-0 so it was all to play for in Palma. Only 9,000 were there to see us go out of the European competition at our first attempt on the away goals rule in a 1-1 draw. We gave away a stupid penalty near the end.
Our first league game in our new home was against Real Madrid. 20,000 turned up and we held a 1-0 lead until added-on time. Then, as usual when we played either of the big two and were ahead with normal time running out, for some unknown reason the referee found another five minutes and we lost 1-2!
Over the nearly 40 years I’ve followed the fortunes of Real Mallorca, home, away and overseas, I’ve seen some nerve-tinglers (I’ve also seen plenty of shockers) and to be able to sit in a state-of-the-art atmospheric ground after all these years and watch “Los Bermellones” in a proper football stadium is brilliant.
PS Diary date
Real Betis in Son Moix, Saturday, January 27 at 9pm.
And finally
A story you may have missed from 2023, a Sudanese man was ordered to marry a goat after being caught having carnal relations with the animal. When the goat’s owner, Mr Alifi, witnessed the unsavoury liaison, he arranged for the man to pay a dowry for the goat “because he used it as his wife.” Mr Alifi went on “I have given him the goat and as far as I know they are still an item!”
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